Friday, January 22, 2016

Do you read NEAR your children?

Currently, I've been working with a child who might be considered a "reluctant reader." Reading isn't fun for him, and it's sometimes hard to get him interested in moving up in reading levels. I've done countless Google searches for ideas, and talked at length with his parents and teachers.

I've created games to help make reading fun, like my sight word game, which is a good way to get kids recognizing easy words (and I can make these in other reading levels, if you'd prefer). It helped, since it also involved him getting up and moving, instead of sitting quietly and reading.

I also started reading exciting chapter books to him, like kids' mystery books. He absolutely loved them! But when I told him that someday he'd be able to read it without help, he didn't care. I know his parents read to him every night before bed, and they would tell him about how they had lots of reading they had to do at their jobs.

This got me thinking: he knows he needs to read to do well in school. He knows his parents have to read while at work. He knows he NEEDS to read. But does he know that reading can be fun? That it's something to look forward to?

We need to read NEAR our children. In other words, show your child how much you love to read. Grab a novel, newspaper, or whatever you enjoy to read. Let your child have some free play, while you read a magazine. Talk to your child about how much you love reading. I think we get bogged down with teaching children that that need to read, that we forget to teach them how much fun it is. So show your child how much you love to read!